Maine man sentenced to 27 years in machete attack on NYPD officers in Times Square
A Maine man who attacked three New York police officers with a machete in Times Square on New Year’s Eve in 2022 was sentenced to 27 years in prison Thursday, federal prosecutors said.
Trevor Bickford, who was 19 at the time, said he attacked the officers because he wanted to wage jihad, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said.
Three officers were injured but survived. Bickford used a machete-style knife and said “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic, as he slashed at their heads, prosecutors said.
The prosecutor's office called it a premeditated "violent rampage." Before Bickford traveled from Maine to the world-famous Times Square New Year's Eve event to attack police, he immersed himself in the teachings of the Taliban and considered going overseas to support the Islamic extremist group, the U.S. attorney's office said.
"Inspired by radical Islamic extremism, Trevor Bickford brutally attacked three NYPD officers who were just doing their jobs by protecting the public during the Times Square New Year’s Eve festivities," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Bickford pleaded guilty in January to three counts of attempted murder of officers and employees of the U.S. government and persons assisting them.
He has also been indicted on state counts of first-degree attempted murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism, first-degree attempted murder and other offenses.
The state case is pending. His next court date is May 22, online records show.
Bickford attacked the first officer, who was 23 years old at the time, at around 10:10 p.m., striking him from behind with the knife, and then attacked the two others, officials have said. The first officer he attacked suffered a fractured skull.
The three injured officers spoke in the Manhattan federal courtroom Thursday, including Officer Mickel Hanna, who shot Bickford once in the shoulder and ended the rampage, NBC New York reported. Hanna said that had he not fired, “people could have died that night,” and that he no longer likes being in crowds, the station reported.
Bickford said “I’ve left scars” and “I hope the victims can forgive me,” according to NBC New York.
Bickford’s defense attorneys argued that untreated mental illness played a significant role in the attack and that “Mr. Bickford is ashamed and appalled by his actions in trying to kill three police officers.”
Bickford was having “auditory, tactile, and visual hallucinations,” they wrote in a sentencing memorandum in which they asked for 10 years in prison.
Bickford wrote in a letter to the judge that he owed an apology to the officers and everyone who witnessed the attack, and well as the United States of America. He said that hallucinations caused him to go deeper into radical Islam, adding, “By the time I attacked the officers, I had become someone else.”
“I wish that I could take back my actions. I’m grateful for the officers’ quick thinking and actions to make sure I didn’t hurt anyone else that night,” he wrote.
Prosecutors asked for at least 50 years in prison, arguing that when it comes to terrorist attacks, “the need for deterrence is also of critical importance here.” Sentencing guidelines allowed for 120 years, they noted.
“The defendant plotted to kill those who did not subscribe to the extremist strain of Islam he embraced,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing submission. “His goal was to kill as many military-aged men who worked for the U.S. Government as he could.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
